This is the beat of a new ambition: A for Attitude

I believe that to be sucessful in whatever you want to persue, you need to surround yourself with people that are full of positive energy and have the same passion and drive to achieve similar goals.

Especially when these goals are viewed as choices you make for yourself to enhance your quality of life.

That being said,

I was at swim practice on Tuesday afternoon. The Channel Cats are preparing for a swim meet this weekend on the west side of the mountains, which will be their last shave and taper meet for the year before buckling down through the hardest training weeks of the year- Christmas Training.

Todd, the Channel Cat coach, and I Nats 2005
Seeing that they are tapering- I was a pretty happy camper. I've been really proud of where my biking hours have been- but whenever I get the chance to hop in the pool and swim I secretly pray for a nice long active recovery set....which isn't always the case.

The set was: 5x100 (1:25), 4x 100 (1:20), 3 x 100 (1:15), 2 x 100 (1:10) and 1 x 100 (1:05). Eh, not easy, but not impossible either. This is just a lot of 100s. Immediately after the coach wrote the set on the board you could just hear the pool errupt with the moans and groans of how hes "Ruining their taper," and "I cant make those send offs" and "Im going to die" (yes I really did hear this one).

Every lane seemed to believe the world might possibly be ending soon..... all but one lane.

The two girls leading the lane were calm, collected- and suited with a sense of determination looking at the set. Feeling their sense of calm, I found my place in the lane next to them and started the set. Within the first 2 x 100s the girl in front of me was already complaining about her shoulder, her tiredness and her general nerves for the weekend. I all of a sudden started feeling pain in my shoulder, my eyes got super heavy along with my arms, legs, and all around attitude....oh wait....im not swimming at the meet- and I took a short nap before I came....theres NO WAY.

My training partner from when I was 12-18. Love her, miss Cassie Hamilton

At the Tri City Invite 2005?, Orange caps, middle (me) lower bottom right (cassie)

I immdeiately moved lanes behind the two girls who were nailing the set...and what do you know- the water just seemed to be easier to move through. My heart even grew like 5x its size when the 15 year old leading the lane announced "One more after the one after this one." (This was something I remember saying during sets like this when I was 15- I really hadn't heard anyone count like that in a while- and I was so excited).

One of the best things I learned when I was at UMD swimming, was that your attitude and energy is EVERYTHING. While competing at meets, we were told that if we had a bad swim to seclude ourselves from the team until we had our emotions under control. This, I took to apply to practice as well. The second you start doubting yourself, the feelings spread like wildfire through everyones brain saying "Humm....maybe I didn't train hard enough....or maybe I cant do this?"